Two Will Still Be Two

Description: Jonghyun wants to celebrate Christmas but Jinki keeps asking weird questions and that annoys the other three guys.

Rating: So very G.

Characters: Lee Jinki, Kim Jonghyun, Kim Kibum, Choi Minho and Lee Taemin

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in the fiction.  The story is only a narrative and does not involve any real life situation.  The whole plot of the story is written originally by myself.  If there's any similarity to other fictions, it is totally a coincidence.

He scribbles, he reads it again and he erases it.  He scribbles, he reads it again and he erases it.  He scribbles, he reads it again and he erases it.  Those action have been repeated a few times, and Jonghyun thinks he still cannot get the lyrics right.  The pencil is getting blunt and the white snow is getting more and more polluted with the eraser’s dust.  His fingers are getting numb and his nose is getting red.

“I should wear my gloves,” he says while putting the pencil and the notebook at his side.
He lies down on the cold snow. Not even ten seconds he closes his eyes, he feels something hits him in his face, hard and cold.  He sits up immediately and the image of Jinki, grinning sheepishly, comes into his sight.

“Yah!  Jonghyun-ah.  Gotcha!” he says, jumping up and down like a bunny.

Jonghyun is supposed to be angry, but he cannot do that, because it is Jinki he is dealing with.  But, his mind is instructing him to get his revenge, just once.  Ignoring the fact that he is not even wearing a glove, he scoops a handful of ice and compresses it into a ball.  Jinki sees that and is about to run, but he slips on the snow and falls on top of his stomach.  His face is buried into the cold snow.  Jonghyun quickly throws the snowball away and comes to Jinki’s aid.

“Yah!  Hyung!” he pulls the guy into a sitting position, “Are you okay?  Does it hurt?”

“Uh.  Oh.  I hate karma so much,” he says while rubbing his cheeks with both hands.  Jonghyun laughs.

“I don’t even get my revenge yet.  How on Earth did you fall?” Jonghyun asks the older guy.

“Blame the snow,” Jinki answers.

Visible air puffs out from their mouths as they speak.  Jonghyun wonders what the guy is doing outside in the park when he can enjoy the warmness of the heater in the apartment.

“What are you doing here, hyung?” asks Jonghyun.

“I’m looking for you,” he says.  He takes the muffler at his neck and wraps it around Jonghyun’s bare hands.

“Looking for me?”

“You are playing hide-and-seek again,” says Jinki.

Jonghyun laughs again, because of both Jinki’s answers and the way his hands are now wrapped in a piece of muffler.  It feels warmer though.

“I’m here at the open space.  I’m not playing hide-and-seek,” Jonghyun states.

“Doesn’t matter.  Whenever you are not in my sight, that means you are playing hide-and-seek,” Jinki says.

Jonghyun laughs again.  He looks at the older guy.  Jinki might be older, but Jonghyun feels like he is the one who is responsible to look after both of them.  After all, the other three guys in the apartment cannot tolerate Jinki’s weirdness.

“What are you doing out here, in the cold?  Are you stupid?” Jinki asks while playing with his gloves.

“I was writing lyrics,” Jonghyun says.  Jinki’s eyes turn very bright after he heard that.

“Can I see it?” he grins, showing his smiling eyes.

“The worst part is I didn’t write a single thing yet,” Jonghyun tells the older.

“Yah!  Your time was wasted again!” Jinki throws a snowball to Jonghyun.

Jonghyun receives the hit squarely at his face.  He hears the other guy laughs merrily and he remembers that he has not yet gotten his revenge for the first one.  He pulls the muffler away and scoops a handful of snow.  Then, he tosses it into Jinki’s face.  It is officially begins, the snowball fight.  They play like kids, shooting snowballs at each other.  They shout, they fall, they laugh, creating their own version of Dumb and Dumber.

“Stop!  Stop!  I’m tired,” Jinki shouts with all his might.  Jonghyun laughs.  He agrees to stop too, because he couldn’t feel his fingers anymore.

They sit together on a bench at the right side of the park, and together, they see the bald trees with snow sticking on the branches.

“Jonghyun-ah…” Jinki calls him.

“Yes?”

“What if the snow is not white?  What if the snow is green?” Jinki asks.

There he goes again, just a part of his weirdness, asking weird questions.  They always receive questions like that and Kibum, Minho and Taemin cannot bear that part of Jinki.  They say it is better to deal with Jinki’s clumsiness rather that Jinki’s questions.  Oftentimes, they leave Jonghyun to entertain Jinki with his questions and Jonghyun admits that his is used to it now.  The guy is just curious and Jonghyun thinks it is okay to feed him with answers which he thinks will partly makes sense.

“Well…I think the astronauts in the International Space Station will see the Earth as a huge green ball,” Jonghyun answers.

“Why?”

“Snow is made from water.  If snow is green, it must get the colour from water.  That means the ocean will be green and the whole Earth will look very green,” says Jonghyun.  He honestly thinks that is not the best answer, but as long as Jinki is satisfied, that will be okay.

“That makes sense,” Jinki nods a few times.  Jonghyun smiles.

“You know that tonight is Christmas Eve?” Jonghyun asks Jinki.

Jonghyun wishes he could be a schoolboy again, who will get a month of winter break and be able to celebrate Christmas together with family.  But, tomorrow his band mates will have to perform on a Christmas Show.  Jonghyun hopes at least he could have a pretty decent Christmas Eve.

“Yeah…but I guess it won’t be as good as celebrating it with family,” says Jinki.

Jinki feels it as well.  Their hectic schedule always prevents them from having a Happy Christmas.  Not that he regrets living as a singer, but he just wants a one-day holiday.

“We can make it good though,” Jonghyun says.

“How?” Jinki asks.

“Let’s go shopping for grocery.  Then, we can cook tonight and decorate our apartment,” Jonghyun suggests and Jinki is very happy with the idea.

+++++

Five of them are at the supermarket, finally, after Jonghyun shouted at the other three guys right into their ears.  Jinki is in the trolley and Jonghyun pushes it, while Kibum, Minho and Taemin look very much irritated by the situation.  Jinki trips three times on his shoelace for the first ten minutes they are in the mart and Jonghyun decides that he should not walk.  Therefore, there he is, in the trolley, taking in packets of food being given to him.

“Do we really need to do this?” asks Kbum, looking at Jonghyun, with his hand giving Jinki a packet of flour.

“It is just once in a year,” says Jonghyun.

“Who is going to cook all this later?” Minho asks.  Jonghyun looks at him with a stern face.

“Us, obviously,” he replies.  Kibum is glad he won’t be forced to do it alone.

“Don’t involve me in this,” says Taemin.  Ever since he is getting matured, Taemin just never listens to Jonghyun or Jinki anymore.

“You are already involved,” Jonghyun takes a box of spaghetti from the rack and gives it to Jinki.

Kibum, Minho and Taemin do not want to do anything that day, really.  They just want to sit down and play games or surf internet.  Being forced to go to the mart angers them so much and adding to that, Jinki in the trolley is very embarrassing.  An adult, in a trolley?  Seriously?

“I don’t think Jinki hyung should be in the trolley either,” Taemin says.  Jonghyun sighs while Jinki flinches at his words.

“Then you expect me to let Jinki hyung falls a few more times before we get out of this mart?” Jonghyun asks him.  The youngest keeps quiet after that, but his face clearly shows that he is infuriated.

After they are done at the meat section, Jonghyun pushes the trolley to the diary section.  Jonghyun asks Taemin to get a packet of grated cheese and Taemin just grabbed anything that his eyes can see and his hand can reach.  He is about to give it to Jinki when Jonghyun stops him.

“How could you just grab it like that?  You should look at the expiry date,” Jonghyun says.

Taemin rolls his eyes and looks at the packet.  He turns it in whichever way he could until he could see where the expiry date was stamped.

“It is February 28th next year,” he says while giving it to Jinki with annoyed feeling.

Jinki takes the packet from Taemin and looks at it.  It is 28th February, alright.  Then, his mind starts to become active again, thinking about the other day in February, the day that exists only in leap year.

“Hmmm…what if 29th February doesn’t exist in the calendar?” he asks that question specifically to Taemin.

Taemin gives Jinki a do-not-ask-me-weird-questions look, but Jinki seems slow to interpret it.  Taemin sighs and looks at Minho and Key for some help, but they ignores that.

“I really need to go to the bathroom,” Taemin says and he leaves.

“I will get the vegetables,” Kibum says and leaves.

“I am going to get some breads and buns,” Minho does the same.

Jonghyun can only watch them leave.  That is what usually happened whenever Jinki asks such a question.  The other guys will avoid from having to answer it or pretend not to hear it at all.

“Am I asking the wrong question, Jonghyun?” he asks Jonghyun while holding the cheese tightly in his hand.

Jonghyun wants very much to say yes, but he can’t bring himself to do it because Jinki looks so pitiful with that face and cheese in hand and sitting in the trolley.  He looks like a rabbit that couldn’t get his carrot.

“No, hyung.  Not that you are asking the wrong question, but that question might be a bit hard for them to answer,” says Jonghyun.  Jinki is quiet for a while.

“Okay,” he says after a while.  His face doesn’t look happy and Jonghyun feels desperate and tries to find an answer that would partially make sense.

“What was the question again, hyung?” Jonghyun asks.

“I asked what if 29th February doesn’t exist in the calendar,”Jinki said.

“Then I would say that every four years, we will live a day ahead of the Earth’s orbiting the Sun,” he says.

Jinki keeps quiet after that and Jonghyun makes a mental note for himself to Google the answer when they get home.

+++++

Kibum nags at them about how they are supposed to keep the kitchen clean and safe even though they are cooking.  Jonghyun is giving a first-aid to Minho’s ring finger which is bleeding because Jinki had accidentally broken a glass bowl and Minho prevented clumsy Jinki from picking it up with his bare hand and resulting in his own finger bleeding.  Jinki looks like he can’t forgive himself for Minho’s bleeding finger.  Taemin boringly kneads the dough for pizza as Kibum instructed.

“Jonghyun, you are responsible to clean the kitchen afterwards,” Kibum says, with a very sharp
tone, as if giving him a warning.

Jonghyun quickly gets it.  It is his idea after all, for all of them to be in the kitchen cooking.  But, Jonghyun just wants to feel the Christmas more at home.  He really doesn’t expect this to happen.

“Sure,” he answers.

Jonghyun wants to blame Jinki for what happens but again, Jinki shows his pitiful look and Jonghyun is angry with himself for could not get any more angry with Jinki.  He goes on bandaging Minho’s wound with a plaster.

“I’m sorry, Minho,” he says.

“It’s okay, hyung.  It is just a small wound.  Not that I cannot play games with it,” Minho states.

Jonghyun knows Minho is looking at Jinki.  But, Jonghyun is grateful that he doesn’t look at Jinki with that angered look as Taemin did at the mart, but this sympathy looks, because Jonghyun knows that Minho might know that Taemin wants to throw the dough into Jinki’s face.  Jonghyun washes his hand clean from the antiseptic.

“Jinki hyung, pass me that 2kg chicken,” Kibum asks Jinki, but this time to pass something that won’t break in case it falls from his hand again.

Jinki is shocked by the mention of his name, but otherwise, quickly jumps to his feet and grabs the chicken.  He passes it to Kibun along with a question Jonghyun wishes he wouldn’t ask.

“What if 2 is written as 3 and 3 is written as 2?” asks Jinki.

Jonghyun freezes on his spot.  Taemin gives a very angry grip to the dough as though he is imagining it as Jinki’s head.  Minho pretends to rummage the refrigerator.  Key takes the chicken without any thanks, without any word.

“Thanks, Jinki hyung,” Kibum says after a while, “I excuse you from the kitchen now.”

Jinki looks at Jonghyun and Jonghyun looks back at him.  Jinki looks very troubled by that situation and with his shoulders slumped, he walks out of the kitchen.  Jonghyun wipes his hand and quickly follows Jinki.

“Hyung,” he calls him.

“I just want to ask people’s opinions about it,” Jinki states, “You know how hard it was when knowledge was first invented and nowadays, we live in a world where everything is there for us, and we forget.”

Jonghyun smiles to Jinki’s statement.  He knows how the older doesn’t take things for granted and always thinks about them from the fundamental.  He knows that Jinki asks those questions because he is just a curious thinker but Jonghyun still thinks that Jinki should realize it when people start to draw a line.

“Alright, in case you really want to know, this is my opinion.  No matter how many times people change how 2 is written, two will still be two.  Only the symbol changes, the value will still be two,” Jonghyun says.

Jinki smiles when he hears the answer and he thanks Jonghyun for that.  Jonghyun walks back into the kitchen and pulls Jinki along.  When they enter the kitchen, Minho’s eyes meet Jonghyun’s.

“Sometimes I wonder if both of you are really dumb or just pretend to be dumb,” Minho says.

+++++

Jinki is decorating the Christmas tree while Jonghyun is trying to figure out how to deal with the LED lights they bought from the mart just now.  Both Jinki and Jonghyun think that this Christmas should be more colourful the last year, and they don’t mind working it out by themselves.  Taemin and Minho are sitting on the couch, too busy with PES to help Jinki and Jonghyun.  Kibum is busying himself at the computer with me2day.

Minho scores a goal and he shouts and jumps happily.  Taemin throws the controller, luckily it lands on the cushion or Minho will get mad.  Kibum glances at them and smiles.  That is the tenth time Taemin loses to Minho that day.

“Damn it!  I hate PES,” Taemin says.

“Oh, I love PES and I love TV and I love myself,” Minho says.

“I feel like crushing the TV,” Taemin mutters.

“Oh, don’t be like that Taemin.  TV is invented for fun…” Minho tries to get the youngest back to the game.

Taemin mouths foul words and Kibum scolds him for that.  Taemin rolls his eyes and saying something about killing the inventor of PES.  Kibum shrugs it off and saying something about do not kill the inventor of me2day.  Minho and Taemin are just about to go on with the game when Jinki asks again, but this time it is directed to Minho.

“Minho, what if John Logie Baird and Charles Babbage were never born?” Jinki asks while cutting the white and red ribbon.

It is silence for a while, except for the sound of Kibum’s vigorous typing and controller being punched and the football commentator’s voice.  Jonghyun almost thought Minho is pretending not to hear it when that guy suddenly answers.

“I don’t care if those guys were never born into this world,” Minho says while making a face.

“And I don’t care about you,” Taemin says bluntly, seems to be pouring all his angers towards Jinki.

“Nor do I care about your weird questions,” Kibum continues after that.

Jinki freezes.  He looks at Jonghyun and hurt is evidence in his eyes.  He puts down the ribbon and the scissors and walks into his room, shared with Taemin and Kibum.  Jonghyun feels angry.  Why can’t they just answer the question?  The older guy wants nothing but opinions.  He doesn’t demand perfect answers and the three freaking housemates can’t just answer that.  He puts down his LED light and walks to the main plug and pulls off every wire that is connected there.  Immediately, the TV and the computer are switched off.  Kibum, Minho and Taemin looks at Jonghyun shockingly, if not furiously.

“That just shows how much you care if John Logie Baird and Charles Babbage were never born,” Jonghyun says and he walks into the room, where Jinki is now hiding and probably crying.

“What?” Taemin is still clueless about the whole situation.

“Jonghyun hyung is right.  John Logie Baird and Charles Babbage invented TV and computer.  Without them, we will not be able do what we were doing just now,” Minho says, silently feeling guilty towards Jinki.

“And we thought Jinki hyung and Jonghyun hyung are supposed to be a version of Dumb and Dumber,” Key states while looking at the floor.

+++++

They are having dinner together in the kitchen.  After all the things happened during the day, finally they are having dinner as a family, and Jonghyun is really glad that his plan went well, despite all the commotion.  Taemin eats like he is not eating for years and Jinki is happy that he is not angry anymore.

“After a few years, this is the first time my Christmas Eve becomes bright again,” says Minho while chugs down his glass of red grape sparkling.  Jonghyun has strictly not allowed alcohol that night.

“Really, hyung.  I almost forget how it feels like,” Taemin bites his drumstick and Jinki stares longingly at that part of chicken as Taemin eats it.

“You can have mine,” Jonghyun gives his drumstick to Jinki and Jinki exchanges it with his chicken breast.

“Thanks, Kibum.  You are a very good cook,” Jinki voices, for the first time since they have their dinner.

“Nothing much.  Thanks for decorating the house though,” Kibum says, still slightly feeling guilty for what had happened between them earlier.

“I did not do that much,” Jinki says sincerely.

Honestly, he doesn’t think he decorate it that well.  The Christmas tree just doesn’t look like Christmas tree anymore and the wall is full with nothing but silver snowflakes which he bought all-done-just-need-to-paste from the mart.  He also puts a small Santa everywhere in the house just to make it look like Christmas.

“What if Santa really exist?” the question comes out of his mouth before he couldn’t even stop himself and he immediately thinks he deserves to die for asking that question.  Surprisingly, everybody makes an effort to answer it.

“The kids will be happy, hyung,” Taemin says.

“I will go out tonight to see his sleigh,” Minho goes.

“We will have something waiting for us next morning, won’t us, hyung?” Key answers.

Jinki smiles.  But, he is not satisfied, because Jonghyun doesn’t answer his question.  The boy always does, but it seems like he is ignoring it now.

“Jonghyun?” he asks.  The other three looks at Jonghyun as well.

“Oh, I don’t know hyung.  Maybe Taemin, Minho and Kibum will behave better especially towards you because Santa gives present only to good guys,” Jonghyun says and continues with his meal.

Jinki is surprised with Jonghyun’s answer because he doesn’t expect Jonghyun to be that thoughtful.  As for Minho, Kibum and Taemin, guilt develops again in their hearts and they promise not to mess up with the Clever and Cleverer brothers again.

__________

heaDeVil^23

Mood: Hungry

Music: Taeyang - Wedding Dress

Coffee without Sugar

Description: Five friends met each other in a cafe and became friends and learned from each other the meaning of life.

Rating: So G!

Characters: Choi Seunghyun (BigBang), Choi Sooyoung (SNSD), Kim Jonghyun (SHINee), Park Gyuri (KARA), Yang Yoseob (BEAST)

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in the fiction.  The story is only a narrative and does not involve any real life situation.  The whole plot of the story is written originally by myself.  If there's any similarity to other fictions, it is totally a coincidence.

It was seven years ago when they promised to meet again at that café, the only decent café in the university campus.  The date was supposed to be today, but Yoseob was not sure if any of them remember it anymore.  Seven years was quite a long time and he thought they must be busy.  The café was the same.  The waiters and the tables and chairs changed though.  But, the arrangement was just as the one when he graduated seven years ago, when they graduated seven years ago.

There were not many students in the café that evening and that made Yoseob felt free to go inside, less attention on him, if there was any.  He looked at the spot they used to take, the one at the far left corner of the café.  It was empty, but he hoped this evening all the five chairs will be occupied.  He sat on one of the chairs.  A waiter came and gave him the menu.  He thanked him, politely, although knowing that the boy was just a student working as a part-timer.  He was once a student too.

Yoseob smiled at the menu.  They were still the same, as if seven years ago was just yesterday.  He closed the menu book, already knew what he wanted to order.  He called for the boy again, and from far he saw the boy walking as fast as he could to him.

“Are you ready to make your order, sir?” the boy asked.

“Yes,” he replied.  The waiter took out his pen and his order list.

“Sir?”

“Give me Tea Set 1 for coffee and cupcakes.  Make the coffee without sugar and the cupcake without whipped cream, please,” said Yoseob.

The boy looked surprised but still jotted down his order without much question.

“Is that all, sir?

“Oh, make them five, please,” he said.

This time, the boy looked at him confusingly, and then his glance moved towards the other four empty chairs.

“Are you sure, sir?”

“Yes,” he nodded convincingly.  The waiter blinked a few times before he jotted it down and made his way to the kitchen.

Yoseob laughed to himself.  That waiter boy was quite surprised when he asked for his order.  Yoseob thought me might looked like the boy ten years ago, when he first met Choi Seunghyun.  His expression must be the same when Seunghyun ordered coffee without sugar and cupcakes without whipped cream on top.

Yoseob can remember it clearly in his mind.  That day, the café was packed with people.  When he entered that café, he found out there was no other seats rather than the one at the far left corner.  That place usually was not his favourite because waiters usually didn’t aware of those who sat at that spot, so, the order will come very late.  But, since he had no other place to sit at, that place seemed convenient.  He jogged to that table with five chairs, hoping he could reach it before other people get it.  Right when he grabbed one chair, a person on the other side dragged another chair.  He froze.

That guy looked intimidating.  He was tall and there was something about his eyes.  People might be right.  When they said ‘a stare could kill’, it was probably not a joke, because this guy’s stare really could kill.  He was scared to claim that place.  He was scared to even say a word.

“Are you alone?” at last the guy broke the silence between them.

But, that made Yoseob’s knees wobbled.  That guy’s voice was very deep.  He felt like the Angel of Death was right in front of him and ready to take his life away.

“Hey, are you alright?” he asked again.  Yoseob came back to reality.

“Oh, yes.  I’m fine.  Yeah…yeah...I’m alone,” he scratched his head.  He hoped he didn’t sound like a chicken in front of that guy.

“Good.  We can share the place then.  I’m alone too,” he said.

That was good enough to make Yoseob felt better.  At least, that guy sounded friendly.  He slowly dragged the chair he already grabbed earlier and sat down.

“I’m Yang Yoseob.  A sophomore,” he said, to make the moment less awkward.

“I’m Choi Seunghyun.  Also a sophomore,” he said while putting his bag on the floor.

“What is your major?” Yoseob asked again while waiting for the waiter who will most probably spotted them the last.

“Medicine,” he said.

Yoseob wanted to laugh, but he controlled himself from being rude.  The fact that a guy with a look of a killer was a future doctor was funny.

“You?” Seunghyun asked back.

“Journalism,” said Yoseob.  The other guy nodded.  In Yoseob’s opinion, that guy seemed not a person that talk a lot.  He smiled sometimes but most of the times he was expressionless.

“I’m sorry, but can I sit here with you guys?” it was a tall girl, like a skyscraper was being squeezed into the café, carrying stack of books about animals.  Both Yoseob and Seunghyun looked at each other, their eyes communicated on their favour to allow the girl sit with them.  Yoseob saw Seunghyun’s gaze softened, and he interpreted it as a yes.

“No problem,” Yoseob said on behalf of both of them.

“Thank you,” the girl was very carefree and the fact that she was sitting with two unknown guys seemed like not a problem to her, “I’m Sooyoung by the way.  Choi Sooyoung.”

The guys looked at each other again before introducing themselves to the girl.  She listened to them intently and even repeated their names, years and majors.

“I’m a sophomore too,” she said.

“Are you majoring in zoology?” asked Seunghyun while pointing to her stack of books.

“Oh, yes,” she nodded.

“Cool,” he replied and back to staring every single waiter in the café.  They busily served other tables and ignored them who were at the corner, out of sight.

“We don’t even stand a chance to make an order,” Yoseob sighed.

“Excuse me.  I hope that seat is still unoccupied,” another girl, this time with uniform.  By the look of it, she must be a naval cadet.  Yoseob cannot be sure of it, whether it was because of the uniform she was wearing or not, but there was a stern tone to the sweet voice of her.

“It is not,” said Sooyoung.

“Good.  Permission to join?” her way of asking was polite, with smile and all, but she sounded cadet-ish, which made it awkward for them.  But, Sooyoung was okay with that.

“Sure.  Not like there are other seats available in the café now.  Join us!” she said cheerfully.

“Thank you,” said the other girl while putting her beret on the table.

“I’m Choi Sooyoung,” cheerfully, Sooyoung introduced herself.

“I’m Park Gyuri,” the cadet girl said, shaking her hands.  Then only the guys proceeded to introduce themselves.

“Are you a Chief Warrant Officer?” asked Seunghyun, pointing at her insignia.

“Oh, yes,” she answered shyly.

“Wow!  What year are you in?” asked Sooyoung.

“Sophomore,” Gyuri replied.

“That is quite fast.  I mean you are in your second year and already are a Chief Warrant Officer?” Sooyoung seemed amazed.  Yoseob had to admit that he was surprised such a pretty face was doing quite well in the military cadet.

“I was a cadet since 11 years old,” she said, still shyly.

“That makes sense,” Yoseob said, “What is your major then?”

“Computer engineering, specialized in naval intelligence,” Gyuri explained.

“Sounds complicated,” Yoseob replied, amazed how a young lady could do so well as a navy.

“Whaddup!!!” a guy appeared out of nowhere and greeted them like an old friend.

“Yo!” surprisingly, Gyuri the cadet answered that informal greeting.

That guy was incredibly short, carrying a guitar at his back.  He wore baggy jeans and a casual checkered-shirt and a bowler hat on top of his head.  As if the guitar was not enough, he was holding a ukulele in his hands.  He plucked the strings and produced a song.

“Jonghyun, Jonghyun the explorer… Jonghyun, Jonghyun the explorer… Where are we going? Find a seat! Where are we going?  Find a seat!” he sang to the melody of Dora the Explorer, but he changed the lyrics spontaneously.

He smiled at them sheepishly.  They stared back at him, without any word coming out from each of their mouth.

“Alright, to make it simple, I really need a seat.  Please?” he asked.

Seunghyun looked at Sooyoung and Yoseob looked at Gyuri.  Seunghyun and Sooyoung seemed okay but Yoseob tried to give a sign to Gyuri, about not allowing a weird guy to join them but Gyuri was not affected by that.

“You can sit on the empty chair.  Join us,” Gyuri says.

“Thanks,” and Yoseob was glad that he did not sing it as a song.

When Jonghyun was about to take his seat, Sooyoung got very frustrated and stood up, waving, tried to attract the waiters.  Jonghyun quickly aware of the height difference, which he could say, there was no difference at all.

“I feel insulted,” he said.  Sooyoung noticed that.

“It is not my fault that you are short,” she said.

“Double stab,” he sat down.

They laughed silently, did not want to insult the new person who just joined them.  Sooyoung was still waving like a madwoman.

“I don’t think that’s going to work, Sooyoung,” said Gyuri, matter-of-factly.  Sooyoung sighed and sat down.

“We are not going to get our food,” she said.

“This might work,” Jonghyun started to strum his guitar.  Yoseob rolled his eyes and Seunghyun smiled to that.  Sooyoung stared at him in disbelief while Gyuri laughed wholeheartedly.

“Waiter!  I beg you to come here… I said, waiter!  I beg you to come here… I said, waiter!  I beg you to come here… Because.  We.  Need.  Our.  Food.  Oh please.  Waiter…” he started to sing to YMCA.

His voice was so loud and high-pitched that the whole café could hear.  That attracted attention to their table.  Seunghyun was still smiling and it was impossible for Gyuri to stop laughing.  But, Yoseob and Sooyoung felt embarrassed by that, at the same time, impressed by the boy’s skill.  He might not be as best as Jung Sungha in ukulele, but the spontaneity in creating the lyrics was beyond amazing.  Not that he did something wrong though.  They felt good when they saw a waitress ran to their table.

“How can I help all of you?” she asked.

“Alright.  Take my order.  I want a set of French toast with mushroom soup, a bowl of potato salad, a set of cupcakes with whipped cream on top and white choco-mocha frappe,” said Sooyoung.

“God!  You eat like you have not eaten for weeks!” said Jonghyun.

“Oh, that’s because I am tall,” Sooyoung coolly brushed him off.

“Ouch, that hurt a lot,” Jonghyun put his palm on his chest and did an expression of pain.  Sooyoung rolled her eyes.

“I would like to have Tea Set 2.  Pancakes and chocolate milk,” Gyuri said.

“Give me lava choc cake with vanilla ice-cream and strawberry lemonade, please,” Yoseob quickly made his order.

“Alright.  I just need Tea Set 1.  Cupcakes with cream on top and coffee.  Thank you,” said Jonghyun.

“Make that two,” Seunghyun quickly added, “But no cream on cupcake and no sugar in the coffee,” he said.

The waitress looked at him again, to make sure he had order it right.  Sooyoung stared at him, her expression showed bizarre.  Yoseob muttered a small ‘What’ and Gyuri looked at Seunghyun as if she was studying him.

“Bro, that tastes horrible,” Jonghyun said, almost dropped his ukulele.  Sooyoung wished he did.

Seunghyun convincingly looked at the waitress and said, “Please.”

The waitress took down his order and hurried to the kitchen.  While waiting for their food to be served, Jonghyun started again.

“I’m Jonghyun.  I’m Jonghyun…” that was ‘I’m the Map’ melody from Dora the Explorer.  Yoseob wondered if he really watched that programme all the time.

“Not again…” said Sooyoung.

“Okay.  I’ll stop.  Since we have different brain wave frequency, I’ll introduce myself manually.  I’m Kim Jonghyun, a sophomore,” he said.

“You must be a music major,” Gyuri stated.

“Oh, yes.  Quite so.  Majoring in music composition,” Jonghyun said.

They started to introduce themselves again.  Jonghyun made fun of Zoology, saying that Sooyoung was a giraffe and she did not have to study animals.  Sooyoung was angry but Jonghyun defended himself saying she had hurt him four times for the first ten minutes they met each other.  Yoseob became tired of the argument and took out a pen and a notebook and scribbled about anything.  Gyuri laughed and laughed at them.  Finally, Seunghyun acted maturely to stop them from bickering.  Shortly after that, their food was served.

They ate their food, while at the same time watching Seunghyun drank his coffee.  It must be bitter without sugar.  On top of that, Seunghyun was weird.  He drank his coffee while having the cupcake in his mouth.

“Seunghyun, can I try your coffee?  You seem to enjoy the taste.  Is it good, coffee without sugar?” asked Jonghyun.

Seunghyun pushed his mug towards him and Jonghyun took it and brought it to his mouth.  He took a sip and immediately, he pulled it back.

“Dude!  How can you drink this like nothing?  It was bitter like hell,” said Jonghyun while quickly drank his sweet coffee.

“Try it with the cupcake,” said Seunghyun.

Jonghyun took a cupcake from Seunghyun’s plate and chewed it in his mouth.  Before he swallowed the cupcake, he tried again Seunghyun’s coffee.  His eyes widened to the taste and he did the thumbs up.

“I know why you like it!  This!  This is a taste of life!”

Seunghyun gave a smile of satisfaction, that finally a guy got it.  But, only Jonghyun understand it.  Gyuri intensely looked at the coffee, still trying to figure out what it meant.  Sooyoung shook her head.  Yoseob stared blankly at Seunghyun.  Jonghyun already picked up his ukulele and played a song.  This time it was an original song he created so spontaneously on the spot together with the lyrics.  The only thing that didn’t make sense was he named the song Life while the lyrics were all nonsense about cupcake without cream and coffee without sugar.

+++++

They went to the café after spending time watching a movie in Seunghyun’s dorm.  Sooyoung and Yoseob didn’t look happy, as though the movie they just watched was not at all interesting.  Gyuri was expressionless and sturdy, as she always did.  Jonghyun was the opposite of Sooyoung and Yoseob, all bouncy with guitar in his hands.  He talked to Seunghyun like there will be no tomorrow and Seunghyun just nodded and smiled to what he was talking.

Ever since the coffee without sugar incident, Jonghyun and Seunghyun had become so close.  They were like a complement to each other.  Tall and short, quiet and talkative, it made some sense though.  They fit each other in a way people could explain, like the lock and key hypothesis.

“How can you even call it a movie?” Sooyoung started commenting about the movie when they took their place at the corner again.  It had become their favourite place so far.

“It was okay,” Gyuri said and shrugged.  In the weekends, Gyuri did not wear uniform and that made her looked even more beautiful.

“No, it’s not.  It was just a combination of some videos together for two hours.  That is not a movie,” Yoseob supported Sooyoung.

“Practically, all movies are about combining videos, combining footages,” Gyuri stated.

“But, not without plot,” Sooyoung rolled her eyes.

Seunghyun always invited them to his dorm to watch movies.  Every time he did that, only Jonghyun showed interest in the movie.  Sooyoung and Yoseob found out that Seunghyun’s definition of a good movie was ‘boring movie’.  But, it was hard to tell whether Gyuri enjoyed it or hate it.  Her face was always expressionless, like when she was in the line, marching.

“Life in a Day was not about plot.  But, it was about the message,” Seunghyun defended.

“You told us that thing as well when you showed us Song of Sparrow and Life of Pi weeks ago.  But, I could not see what the directors wanted to show actually,” Yoseob stood with his point.

“Well, at least Song of Sparrow and Life of Pi have plots.  And actually I don’t mind watching them because movies with animals are awesome,” Sooyoung said.

A waiter came and took their order.  As usual, Seunghyun and Jonghyun will order coffee without sugar and cupcake without cream.

“What do you like so much about animals anyway?” Yoseob asked.

“I’ve been thinking of asking that as well,” Gyuri said.

“You guys just don’t know how animals can make us appreciate life, do you?” Sooyoung asked this time.

“Well, I know that Boots the Monkey helped Dora a lot in her exploration,” Jonghyun shrugged.

Sooyoung rolled her eyes, “There’s one thing that animals are good at.  Emotion,” Sooyoung stated.

“So?” Seunghyun asked, curious.

“All their actions are based on their emotion.  Well, you know.  Animals have brains, but they think not using their brains but their emotion.  That is my opinion though,” Sooyoung said.

“And?” Gyuri asked.

“You guys don’t get it?  Oh, God save me.  What makes us, human, different from animals, is that we are given the ability to think based on our emotion as well as rational and logic.  You know, sometimes when you work with animals, when you see what they did, you will feel ashamed of yourself.  If animals who think using their emotion all the time are able to behave well, then what about us, human who are given rational and emotion?  But, most human nowadays act worse than animals.  You get what I mean?” Sooyoung said.

“You are basically saying that human nowadays think less?” Seunghyun asked.

“That, somewhat is true.  We are becoming less humane day by day as well,” for the first time Sooyoung felt that she can get along with Jonghyun.

“Yeah.  You see that.  Being given the ability to think through logic deduction and emotion, that makes us human.  But, what you can see nowadays is the opposite.  Animals teach us a lot.  A lot more that you could see,” said Sooyoung.

The tense at the table was eased when the waiter came with their food.  However, Yoseob can’t just let go.  Right after the waiter left, he continued.

“Alright, Sooyoung.  I could see that.  That was true.  But, still.  Seunghyun’s movie just now was boring,” Yoseob said.

“No, it’s not,” Jonghyun quickly argued.  Yoseob stared at Sooyoung and Gyuri to gain support.

“I told you it was okay,” Gyuri said.

“Alright, I go with you, Yoseob.  It was boring,” Sooyoung admitted.

Seunghyun smiled to that.  It was up to them to make their own assumption, as long as he understood the message of the movie, that was enough.  He took his cupcake and drank his coffee, and savoured the taste.

“You guys don’t understand.  You have to learn to look at things implicitly and appreciate the beauty,” Jonghyun said, stomping his left leg.

“You always said that, implicitly.  Could you please, Mr. Kim, explain to us how you look at things implicitly?” Sooyoung asked sarcastically.

 Jonghyun pushed his mug of coffee without sugar and his plate of cupcake without cream to Sooyoung.

“Taste that the way Seunghyun and I did, and you will understand what I mean,” Jonghyun dared her.

Sooyoung looked at the black concentrated coffee without sugar and then at Jonghyun.  That short guy nodded, convincing her to try it.  She took the cupcake and chewed it her mouth and before she swallowed it, she drank the coffee.  Then, she set the mug down and looked back at Jonghyun.

“Now, I know what you mean,” Sooyoung said.

Jonghyun laughed merrily and gave Seunghyun a high-five.  Seunghyun smiled widely, with satisfaction.  Jonghyun picked up his guitar and strummed it to ‘We Did It’ of Dora the Explorer.

“We did it, we did it, we did it, yay!” and the song continued and that menu just became Sooyoung’s favourite Tea Set from the café.

+++++

They were together again at the café, after a week of hectic schedule.  Senior year was crazy.  They had a lot of projects and stuffs.  Those things needed to be done for them to graduate next semester.  Gyuri sailed the sea for a week, while Seunghyun visited the hospital a few times.  Sooyoung went to the zoo every so often and Jonghyun locked himself in the studio to compose a few songs.  Yoseob went out a lot to do interview and went back to the campus to write reports.  But, the different projects of different majors did not stop them from seeing each other at the café.

“I composed a few songs but thus far, this is my favourite.  I promised it is good,” Jonghyun strummed his guitar.

“The last time you said that, your song entitled ‘Us’ but it was all nonsense about chemical composition and atom arrangement in alloy,” Yoseob said while tapping his finger on the table.

Sooyoung laughed while having his cupcakes and coffee.  Seunghyun smiled and Gyuri maintained her stern navy expression.  Jonghyun looked at Yoseob.

“Well, the title is Passport this time,” said Jonghyun.

Sooyoung laughed.  Yoseob still can’t believe that Sooyoung had gotten along very well with Jonghyun these days.

“I’ll start,” he said and Yoseob resisted the urge to cover his ears

.

Jonghyun strummed and plucked his guitar.  He sang coolly.  The melody was nice but the lyrics were nonsensical again.  How can he name the song Passport when they lyrics were all about Dinosaur living in Mesozoic Era?

“On a piece of land…They lived in clans…But there’s no line…Where they should stand…” he went on and on.

Once he finished his song, Sooyoung gave him the loudest applause.  Seunghyun did a thumb-up and Gyuri just smiled.

“I like that better that the atom arrangement.  I just love how you include reptiles in that,” Sooyoung said.

“I know I’m good,” Jonghyun joked.

“That song conveys very implicit meaning.  I like it,” Seunghyun said and they did their high-five.  Sooyoung nodded to that.

“What meaning?” Yoseob started to feel irritated.

“He said implicit meaning,” Gyuri answered.  Sooyoung nodded.

“You understand them Gyuri?” Yoseob asked.  Gyuri shook her head while taking a sip of her strawberry lemonade.

“But, you must learn to respect people’s work, Yoseob,” she said.  There’s a stern tone in her voice.

That was how it went with Gyuri.  Every time they had an argument, oftentimes Gyuri smiled and didn’t show which party she supported.  She will always give pros and cons, telling them that both teams had their rights and wrongs.

“No use talking to you.  You will never choose side,” said Yoseob.

Gyuri shot him a sceptical look with her eyes.  Yoseob was shocked and with her wearing that uniform, Yoseob thought that it must be hard to deal with soldiers.

“You tend to judge people, Yoseob,” Gyuri said softly.

“I usually choose side when I write my articles,” Yoseob shrugged.

“No.  You made hasty generalization.  Just because I didn’t tell you what I choose doesn’t mean that I never choose side,” Gyuri stated.  The other three silently watched the argument.

“Alright.  Tell me this time.  Do you agree that Jonghyun’s song conveys no meaning?” Yoseob asked.

Jonghyun swallowed while looking at Seunghyun.  His expression was clear, a sense of guilty.  That song was now the topic of debate between Gyuri and Yoseob.  Sooyoung looked at them with timid expression while eating the sweet cupcake with the bitter coffee.

“Which side I choose is my secret.  You know that your vote is your secret, are you not, Yoseob?” Gyuri asked.

Yoseob sighed.  Gyuri was a secretive girl and it was hard to dig out her thoughts on something.  She gave her pros and cons for things but she will never reveal which side she supported.  Not even her expression will show it.

“You win,” Yoseob said.  Jonghyun sighed in relief, grateful that he did not have to hear his friends fought because of his song.

“It is not so much about winning, Yoseob.  It is about information.  When you heard people’s opinion, it is subjected to biasness and a lot of things go wrong that way.  The best way is to find the meaning of the song by yourself,” Gyuri said.

“How?” Yoseob asked, ready with his pen and notebook.

“Jonghyun, would you care explain that implicit meaning to us?” asked Gyuri.  Jonghyun looked at Sooyoung and she shrugged.

“As you said, find it out yourself,” Jonghyun said and passed his mug of sugarless coffee and his plate of creamless cupcakes.

Gyuri frowned and looked at Yoseob.  Yoseob rolled his eyes and gave her a told-ya! look.  But, this time Gyuri took that cupcake and chewed it and drank the coffee. She closed her eyes and swallowed that.

“That makes so much sense now.  I understand everything,” Gyuri said.  But her expression was unreadable that Yoseob was unable to tell whether she was being sarcastic or being honest and Jonghyun went again with Dora’s ‘We Did It’.

+++++

That day they were no longer undergraduates.  All of them received their scrolls and threw their mortar-boards.  They were supposed to be with their families, but they postponed it to a night schedule, because that evening was their final time together.

Not like other days filled with bickers and laughs, that day it was solemn and quiet.  On the table was their scrolls and each of them stared at it.  That spot at the left corner of the café was occupied with 5 quiet persons.

“Jonghyun, say something.  You always say something,” Seunghyun pushed the responsibility to Jonghyun.

The problem was, Jonghyun was emotional.  They were all emotional.  Say a word and you will cry, and that was the last thing they wanted to happen.

“So…this is it?” said Jonghyun, knowing immediately that he made wrong choice of words.

“No,” Yoseob said.

“We can see each other again,” Sooyoung said.

“Not when we are busy working,” Gyuri stated matter-of-factly.

At last, Seunghyun broke the silence by calling for a waitress.  The waitress came.  Without asking the other members of the table, Seunghyun called for Tea Set 1, sugarless coffee and creamless cupcakes for five.  When the waitress left, they were in silence again.

“Thank you,” Jonghyun said.

“No problem,” Seunghyun replied.

Gyuri played with her beret.  That was the first time they saw Gyuri as Gyuri, not a sturdy-stern cadet.  Sooyoung bit her lower lip and played with her finger.  Yoseob took out his notebook and wrote something.  Then, he passed the message to all of them.

‘If you’re not going to speak, we can always write.’  That managed to crack them up.

“How silly we are!” said Sooyoung while wiping her tears of happiness and sadness.  It came out after she laughed, but she admitted the tears were collected since the moment of silence.

They talked again about Seunghyun’s movies.  They talked about how Gyuri’s was always so expressionless.  They talked how Sooyoung could handle a cobra.  They talked about Jonghyun’s songs and how Yoseob still can’t get the meaning behind it.  Even when the food was served, they ignored it and kept talking.

“Let’s make a promise,” said Gyuri.

“A weird one?” asked Jonghyun.

“We won’t contact each other again no matter what happen.  After seven years, we will meet here again, on this exact date,” Seunghyun said.

“Why seven?  Why don’t make it five or ten?” Yoseob asked.

“Dude, because we are weird,” Sooyoung said.

With that, the promise was carved in their hearts.  They ate the cupcakes and they drank the coffee and Yoseob still wondered how Seunghyun managed to make everybody understand.  At last, he was the only one not eating.  But, as they made their way out of the café, one by one, Yoseob touched the cupcake.  When he was the only one left on the table, he took the cupcake and chewed it and drank the sugarless coffee and that was when he realized it.  That was the day when Song of Sparrow, Life of Pi and Life in a Day made sense.  That was the day when Life, Us and Passport made sense.

+++++

It was already five in the evening and Yoseob faithfully waited in the café.  There was hope that they will come.  His heart kept telling him that. His friends won’t forget this day.  They won’t.

“Are you alone?” he quickly recognized the voice and turned to his back.

It was Seunghyun, in an adult version.  He smiled like before, but his sharp dagger eyes showed that he had been through a lot of things.  Yoseob was a journalist and he was highly resourceful.  Seven years not contacting each other didn’t mean that he did not know what happened to his friends.

He knew Seunghyun was a doctor and that guy with the look of a killer joined UN for humanity missions.  He knew that Seunghyun went to places where war broke out or where disasters happened.  Some part of his face was scarred and the exposed part of his left hand was decorated by burn marks.  But, the most important thing was his eyes spoke a lot of things people only could ever imagine.

“I thought you forget today, doctor,” Yoseob said while giving him a friendly hug.

“How could I?” said Seunghyun.  They sat down.

“You ordered this?” Seunghyun asked, pointing at the cupcakes and coffee.

“I finally understand the meaning,” said Yoseob.

“Your eyes showed a lot of things, Yoseob,” said Seunghyun.

“So, do yours,” replied Yoseob.

Seven years was not a short period.  Both of them travelled all over the world, with different responsibility, to get the taste of life.  Both of them had seen a lot.

“Do you think they forget?” Seunghyun asked.

“No,” here came a voice so familiar to them.

Yoseob and Seunghyun were happy to see Sooyoung.  That girl had the same look as them, a look that showed the world they had learned a lot.  Her hands were decorated with what Yoseob thought were the scars of snakes’ bites, tigers’ claws and marks that he wished he did not know.  The last time Yoseob heard about her was when she was on a mission to save tigers from black market trading.

“You guys look so different,” she said cheerfully.

“So do you,” said Seunghyun.

“I guess we experienced a lot, huh?” Sooyoung said.  Both the man nodded.

Then, they heard the sound of boots clattered the floor of the café.  They did not need to take a look to know who was coming.  It must be Park Gyuri.

“Evening, friends.  Permission to sit?” Gyuri smiled and greeted them but they looked at her without a blink.  To be the country’s first line of defence was always her ambition, but they didn’t expect her to be all tough and strong like a guy.

“Sounds seaman-ish,” said Sooyoung.  Gyuri laughed.

“Just done with duty at our border and forced a boy to fly me here,” she said.

“Captain, yes, Captain,” Yoseob said, imitating how a navy would talk to officers with higher rank.  Gyuri laughed.

“I miss the coffee and cupcakes,” said Gyuri and her hand reached for a cupcake, but she was stopped by Sooyoung.

“Gyuri, we should wait for Jonghyun,” she said.  Gyuri laughed.

“Alright, this small guy.  You think he will come?” Seunghyun asked with a big grin.

“I don’t know.  Two days ago he flew to Japan for his cancer-charity concert,” Yoseob informed them.

“Yeah…I know that.  I mean…who doesn’t know him.  Popular singer with weird songs.  No title matches his lyrics but people can understand him without having to drink sugarless coffee like us.  That guy conquers the world with his songs and charity concerts.  He can be in Korea and Japan at the same day,” said Sooyoung.

“And he broke his promise.  We said that we should not contact each other until today but he tried to make contacts through songs,” Gyuri said.

“His latest contact was to me.  That song he released a few months ago with the title Arrogant and the lyrics were all about food being stuffed into one stomach,” Sooyoung rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, and the song was a hit,” Gyuri said.

“That guy is funny, writing songs about all of us in a weird way,” Seunghyun said.

Just then, they heard the door of the café opened and guitar strummed and nice melody and weird lyrics.  They laughed altogether.

“Speaking of the devil,” said Yoseob.

“Whaddup!” Jonghyun greeted them.

“Yo!” Gyuri replied him.

In contrast to the four of them, Jonghyun looked so bright.  He dressed up like he was ten years ago, a pair of baggy jeans, a checkered-shirt and bowler hat on his head.  He looked matured and his eyes tell something they don’t understand.  But, in all, he was the ball of energy for them.  They quickly realized that all this years he was making songs for each of them, it was to brightened them up.

“There’s something about you, Jonghyun,” said Sooyoung.

“Want to hear my new song?  The name is Guitar,” he said and he went on with lyrics about cupcake this and cupcake that.

One thing that made them same that day was they were able to understand those lyrics.  It was about Jonghyun himself.  They smiled.  They know life is meaningful not when you tried to make something sweet out of bitterness or make something bitter out of sweetness, but when you make the bitterness and sweetness complement to each other.

__________

heaDeVil^23

Mood: Hungry